


Strangely Sweet Tea Time

by Okami01



Series: SoftGoroWeek2020 [1]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Developing Friendships, Fluff, Gen, Secret Crush, Suspicions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:15:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25282228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Okami01/pseuds/Okami01
Summary: Au where Akechi joins the Phantom Thieves early or something. He and Ann bake cookies together and learn more about each other. Prompt - Sweets
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Takamaki Ann
Series: SoftGoroWeek2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1831651
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	Strangely Sweet Tea Time

Akechi doesn't know how he got into this situation. Or rather, he does. And he can believe it. It's just as ridiculous as everything else that the Phantom Thieves do. 

Which currently, is Ann Takamaki, Haru Okumura, Makoto Niijima, and Futaba Sakura baking. Well, Makoto laboring over her textbooks, Futaba typing at her computer and Haru fussing over Ann's less than healthy house plant. 

Akechi pretends to scroll through his phone. Mostly just to keep himself busy. News of the Phantom Thieves is everywhere. Irritating, but not surprising. It occurs to him that he could be busy somewhere. So much so that he almost grimaces. Instead, he's stuck here, trying to observe all of them. Making the best out of this absurd situation.

He's not going to ask again why he's here. The answer is simple and stupid. Not even some great mystery to solve. That would be nice. If this were a problem that actually required thinking. He feels like he needs to turn off his brain to understand. 

Ryuji and Ann started arguing. Something that Akechi usually tried to ignore. This time, About who was better at baking. It didn't matter. Especially when Ryuji insisted that it was Ren who was the best at cooking. Cooking and baking were two separate things. While the thought of eating Ren's cooking made Akechi's mouth water, it's only because he is a great chef. Which is why competing over it in the middle of the day instead of doing something productive is ridiculous. 

Makoto seems to have the right idea. But why come to Ann's house in the first place if all she's going to do is study? Akechi thinks he'll get free food out of this. Not that he can't get food from anywhere. Ann asked him to judge and he quickly decides that's because she's trying to get to know him better. She said that they need someone impartial. Which is gold because he hates them all. Her motives are ridiculous. For friendship, he suspects. 

Akechi isn't interested. It should go without saying. He decides to play along anyway. Not for their sake so much as his own. The more he knows about them, the better. 

Ann smiles into a mixing bowl. Humming something while stirring quickly.   
He glances at her. A girl who attacks monsters with a whip. Who summons a vague dominatrix like persona to shoot fire at people. Who flirts badly with shadows sometimes so that they'll give them more money. 

Ren, Ryuji, Yusuke, and that irritating cat are off somewhere else baking. Supposedly they're all coming here soon. As if this is really something that needs to happen. 

" Are you alright, Akechi-Kun?" Ann asks for no reason. Unless she's somehow peered into his soul or can read his thoughts. She'd probably get lost there anyway. 

He considers pretending to ignore her. His voice comes out as sickly sweet as the pastries he'll be forced to try. 

" Ahh, yes thank you. Why?"

Ann grins and turns from the bowl. Her brows knit together in a way that he's come to associate with her scheming something. As much as she can anyway. Mischief.   
She's easy to read. Most times. Akechi has his doubts. No one should be this unguarded. But that was most of the Phantom Thieves. Unguarded as if their feelings were something that they should just openly share. 

" Oh. Well, I thought you'd want to be with Ren-Kun."

Of course not. He's sorry he asked. He supposes that this is teenage gossip. 

She stares at him expectedly over her shoulder. He represses a sigh. 

" I do not know what you're talking about. I would think you'd rather be with Sakamoto-Kun."

Ann turns back around and starts stirring roughly. " Ahh...Why would I want to be around that jerk."

Akechi hums and gets back to his fake reading. 

That doesn't last very long. 

Haru looks up from the plant and smiles. " Does that mean that you both have crushes on them?"

" No," Ann says immediately. Shouting and shaking her head. " Of course not, he gets on my last nerve."

Akechi doesn't know much about Ann and Ryuji's history. He doesn't care. At least he can honestly say that, " I don't have a crush on Amamiya-Kun."

He gets up and glances back at Haru who has the same devious look that she gets when she kills a shadow. 

" Anyway," he says, suppressing a snort of irritation. " Let me help you, Ann-chan."

He glances at the bowl and the other ingredients on the counter. The first attempt at cookies charred and on the stove cooling. She's a disaster. Akechi doesn't know much more but he can at the very least follow a recipe correctly. 

"You're not supposed to help us, Akechi-Kun." 

That's ironic. Accurate. And yet here he is. Helping them. Of course for his own reasons. 

" You're not supposed to stir up dough like this either," he sighs. " It'll be fine." He smiles and holds his hands out and she relinquishes the tools. 

He eases the dough out into the pan. It looks frayed and overworked. Whatever Ren makes will be better anyway. Still, Akechi would like to eat edible cookies. 

She watches him and he rolls his shoulders back and smooths out the dough. 

" You know… you don't need to act like that around me."

"Hmm?"

" I just thought you might be tired from acting "princely" all the time."

It startles him. He doesn't show it in his features of course. It's just strange. He doesn't want to look at her but he does anyway. 

She smiles. Not one of her model smiles or the one she uses when she's trying to get away with something. A real one. 

" I want to be a model, you know. So… I'm used to fake smiles " Her eyes widen. " Sorry. That was rude. You just might not get many chances to… be yourself. There are times when you seem really happy. But I guess everyone's like that."

Akechi blinks and sort of laughs. It's silly. But he isn't worried. She might not be as stupid as he thought she was. That doesn't mean anything necessarily. Just because she thinks that they're alike and she wants to be friends doesn't mean anything either. 

" That's certainly an… interesting opinion. It does take a little more than that to make me upset, Ann-chan."

"There you go again." She points her finger in his direction in mock accusation. You're one of us now." She says it so easily that it almost surprises him too. " So you don't need to act like you're on a TV show."

" Oh? so you think that's what I'm doing?"

" You don't need to be a detective prince all the time. We all wear different masks, you know? That's why we're all together isn't."

He's seen Ann's other masks. Her terrible acting skills. She's never been in so much trouble that it mattered anyway. 

She stands up on her toes and opens up a shelf. There's a box with cookie cutters in it. 

The first thing that comes to Akechi's mind is that he doesn't care what she thinks. He almost laughs out loud at this and not his rehearsed fake one. It's easy to say that she wants him to be genuine. No one would like Akechi if they knew how he really was.

He doesn't say any of that of course. Strokes one of his fingers over his chin. " Isn't the point of us being together justice? Fighting against corrupt adults?"

She laughs. Once again unguarded, with a bit of a snort. " Yes, it is! I know that you're fighting for your own reasons… I'm just saying that I'm glad you're here, Akechi-Kun."

Why? He nearly asks aloud. He knows why. It's good that he's around. He's strong and it makes things in the metaverse easier. 

" I'm glad I can help you fight the shadows."

Ann pouts immediately. " Aww, you know that's not the only reason I'm happy that you're on our side. No matter what you act like on the surface, I think you're a good person."

Akechi isn't sure exactly what to say to any of that. But it must mean that he's a better actor than she is. Which makes sense. Of course, he is.   
Still, it's unnerving that she blindly trusts people like that. That's how all the Phantom Thieves are though. Even though they've been kicked around by society, they still expect it to get better. To look for the good in the world. They're all fools. Which makes sense, they say that fools are hard to kill. 

" I suppose that it takes one to know one." He decides to say. Which also isn't true. Akechi isn't good and he isn't sure if Ann is. She's definitely stupid and she's concerned about him. 

" Ahh thank you." She nods and stretches. " I feel better now. Ok, let's finish this."

Akechi doesn't understand her at all. 

They stamp the cookies out and put them in the oven. They're mediocre really. Somehow, they don't burn. And they aren't offensive in flavor. Akechi is almost completely sure that anything Ren makes would be better. Not that he cares of course. 

Haru places a tray of coffee mugs filled with a tea that she had to microwave on the table. Because apparently, Ann doesn't have a tea kettle. What an unpleasant notion, Akechi thinks as he sips his microwave tea. But it's actually not bad. She lives on her own. Her parents practically ignore her apparantly. Not that he's one to make excuses for anyone. 

The sound of the girls talking and giggling admittedly isn't either. Nor is the loud interruption of the rest of the group. Though, more than likely, that's just because Akechi is full. They seem to have forgotten why they were bickering in the first place. That they're all gathered together to simply " hang out." It's quite ridiculous. Akechi decides that there are worse places in the world filled with worse people, so he stays here for now.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy SoftGoroWeek! I haven't played royal yet but I think that Ann and Akechi would be good friends.
> 
> @Tavitay on Twitter


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